15 December 2017: Travellers Choice member shareholders have elected award-winning travel agent Greg Close from Easy Travel and Cruise as the newest member of the Company's Board.
Close joined Travellers Choice in 2011 after acquiring his first agency in Murray Bridge, 80km south-east from Adelaide. Since then he has added two additional stores in Queensland: Easy Travel and Cruise Gympie in August 2014 and Easy Travel and Cruise Nambour in November 2015.
Easy Travel and Cruise is consistently ranked as one of Travellers Choice’s top members. The agency was presented with a Silver Choice Award at this year's Annual Shareholders’ Conference, and in 2014 Close received the coveted Brian Pateman Agency Award for Excellence, which each year recognises an agency for outstanding performance in key areas such as marketing strategy and support for preferred suppliers.
Easy Travel and Cruise has also been the recipient of an array of local and national honours, including Cruise Lines International Association Australasia's 'Best Agency Promotion of the Year’ award.
Close says he decided to join the Board in order to make a contribution to the national travel network's future success. In particular he was passionate about the prospects for network expansion.
“Given our continued annual profits, the unrivalled support services we offer our shareholders and the extraordinarily high satisfaction levels of our members, I believe we have a wonderful opportunity to attract new members and drive continued growth of our Company," says Close.
Travellers Choice Managing Director Christian Hunter says Close is a valuable addition to the Board.
“As the operator of successful agencies in Queensland and South Australia, Greg has first-hand experience of the challenges facing our members, particularly those in regional locations," says Hunter. "His commercial insight and expertise will help our Board continue to develop and implement strategies that drive growth for all our members.”
Travellers Choice is entirely owned by its members, with the network's Board consisting of four member shareholders and two independent Directors.
Close replaces Sue Holmes from Carine Travel Bug in Western Australia, who stepped down after serving on the Board for the past seven years.